The Master Set for Immortal includes four factions (Pantheons) which the game’s various characters are divided into. Each of these factions represents the myths and legends of a particular world culture, and will have a distinct gameplay flavor all their own. The first of these four factions that we will be talking about is the Norse Pantheon!
Here we have character cards exhibiting the Norse Pantheon’s tendency for passive-aggressive abilities, depicted by the icons in the bottom-center of the cards. The Norse like to take a position and then hold it, punishing their opponents for attacking them.
Tyr has the Scar ability. Any card which attacks him, regardless of the outcome, will gain a permanent -1 penality to all four of its combat strengths after the attack is finished.
The Midgard Serpent has the Traitor ability. If it gets captured, the Midgard Serpent will be removed from the board and added to the hand of the player who captured it, to be used by him on a future turn. To compensate for having this disadvantageous ability, the Midgard Serpent has higher than normal strengths all around, making it one of the most powerful cards in the game, numerically.
The Valkyries have the Counter-Attack ability. If an attack against them fails, they will attack the offending card in retaliation. So if an opponent places a card with weaker strengths adjacent to the Valkyries, he stands to have his card captured by the Valkyries’ player at the end of that turn.
Thor by Monika Palosz
Each Pantheon will include eighteen character cards, divided into three Dominions of power: Earth, Sea, and Sky (more on that later.) The cards within each Dominion are sorted into increasing Levels, which determine their relative power to other cards, and when they can enter into play. So one Dominion of one Pantheon has three Level I cards, two Level II cards, and one Level III card. (6 cards x 3 Dominions = 18 cards… 18 x 4 Pantheons = 72 total cards in the Master Set!!!)
Below is the list of Norse characters included in Master Set 1:
Sky Dominion
Level III
Odin
Level II
Heimdallr
Thor
Level I
Sif
Sleipnir
Valkyries
Sea Dominion
Level III
Midgard Serpent
Fenrir by Milek Jakubiec
Level II
Loki
Thrym
Level I
Angrboda
Hel
The Kraken
Earth Dominion
Level III
Surtr
Level II
Fenrir
Freya
Level I
Freyr
Trolls
Tyr
It’s very likely that a few of your favorite characters from Norse mythology are not included in this list. What that means is that we have much room for expansion! World mythology is a deep well of inspiration for a game like this. This powerful theme will allow Immortal to grow and evolve as long as players want it to. You can help shape that evolution by telling us what you want to see. What are your favorite myths and legends? Which beloved heroes and terrible monsters do you want to see go to war with the characters we’ve revealed so far?
You can also follow Immortal‘s progress over on BoardGameGeek. More to come!
– David